The present invention relates generally to the field of electrical connectors and jacks and, more specifically, to an improved electrical jack adapted for direct connection to a printed circuit board. Such jack is adapted for use primarily in the communications industry, however, it is contemplated that it will have application in various other fields such as the audio industry and the like as well.
Many jacks in the prior art have included a lamination of a number of spring metal contacts separated by insulators and mounted on one end of a metal frame. The other end of the frame forms the entrance end and accepts a plug. The entrance end is then adapted to be mounted in a panel. The most common example of this type of jack is in the telephone industry.
In addition to the above described jacks, the prior art includes a jack of the type described in British Pat. No. 974,786. Such jack includes a body portion formed of insulating material and three transverse slots extending across such body portion to seat a corresponding number of wrap-around contact members. Each of these contact members consists of a movable contact element and a corresponding stationary contact element having soldering lugs extending from the bottom of the jack for appropriate connection to the desired circuitry. This jack is a panel-mount type jack. Each of the stationary contact members of this jack consists of an "L" shaped contact, one leg of which extends downwardly through the bottom of the jack. The other leg extends generally horizontally with respect to the plug for electrical contact with the movable contact element. The contact surface of this latter end is generally perpendicular to the movement of the movable contact member. Because of this structure, the "wipe" or wiping action between the contact elements in this jack is limited.
As the art has been refined, jacks have been produced in smaller configurations, commonly called miniature jacks in the industry. These jacks are mounted in close proximity to each other on jack panels and are adapted generally for direct connection to a printed circuit board. Jacks of this type are illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,002,399 and 4,037,913.